No evidence of perfusion abnormalities in the basal ganglia of a patient with generalized chorea-ballism and polycythaemia vera: analysis using subtraction SPECT co-registered to MRI.
Polycythaemia vera is a well-known cause of symptomatic chorea, however, the pathophysiology of this correlation remains unclear. We report on a patient with generalized chorea-ballism associated with polycythaemia vera, and we present the findings of 99mTc-hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (HMPAO) SPECT done in both the choreic state and the non-choreic state. The SPECT during both the choreic and the non-choreic states did not reveal any definite perfusion changes in specific regions of the brain, as compared with 6 age-matched controls. In addition, the subtraction SPECT co-registered to MRI (SISCOM) analysis did not show any difference in cerebral blood flow during the choreic and non-choreic states. This result suggests that the basic mechanism of chorea associated with polycythaemia vera does not appear to be associated with a reduction in cerebral perfusion to a specific cerebral area, such as the basal ganglia or its thalamocortical connections.
Kim
Woojun
W
Department of Neurology, National Cancer Center, Koyang-city, Kyunggi-province, South Korea.
Kim
Joong-Seok
JS
Lee
Kwang-Soo
KS
Kim
Yeong-In
YI
Park
Chong-Won
CW
Chung
Yong-An
YA
D000368:Aged; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D002819:Chorea / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011086:Polycythemia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*